Refrigerating-machine.



No. 719,460. PATENTED FEB. a, 1903.

'J. 0. GOOSMANN. REFRIGERATING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED 00124, 1901.

H0 MODEL.

UNTTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JUSTUS C. GOOSMANN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

REFRlGERATlNG-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 719,460, dated February3, 1903. Application filed October 24,1901. Serial No. 79,813. (Nomodel.)

1'0 all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, J USTUS O. GOOSMANN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Refrigerating Machines;and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to a novel construc tion in an ice-machine, andmore particularly to stufling-boxes for ice-machines, the object beingto provide means for effectually preventing loss of gas; and it consistsin the features of construction and combinations of parts hereinafterfully described and claimed.

The accompanying drawing,illustrating my invention, shows the end of thehigh-pressure cylinder and stuffing-box in section and parts connectedwith said cylinder and stuffing-box partly in section and partly inelevation.

My invention is particularly designed for that class of ice-machines inwhich carbonicacid gas is used; and its object is, as above stated, tominimize the loss of gas through the stuffing-box.

The cylinder 1 is provided with a stuffingbox 2, through which thepiston-rod 3 passes. Said stuffing-box is provided at its inner end witha plurality of packing-rings 4, held in place by the metallic rings 5and 6, and outwardly of the latter are two more packingrings 7, held inplace partly by said ring 6 and partly by the ring 8 and gland 9. Thelatter contains rings 10 and 11, between which packing is interposed,which said packing is compressed by means of a sleeve 12, threaded intothe outer end of said gland 9. Said gland 9 passes through a sleevelS,entering an annular recess 14 in the end of said stuffing-box 2, and isadapted to compress a packing in said annular space.

In this class of machines a very high pressure is attained in thecylinder 1, thereby making the prevention of loss of gas exceedinglydifficult. The usual means employed consist in providing thestuffing-box 2 with a gas-chamber intermediate of the inner and outerpacking rings and with a glycerinchamber outwardly of the gas-chamber,such glycerin serving the double purpose of effecting a seal within thestufling-box and lubricating the piston-rod. Such gas-chamber isgenerally connected with the suction end of the cylinder, so thatescaping gas will be returned into the system. In order to effectivelyform a seal within the stuffing-box, the glycerin is maintained at apressure greater than the suction and less than the high pressure, so asto prevent the gas from bubbling through the glycerin. The meansheretofore employed, however, have been only partially successful inpreventing loss of gas, but not to a sufficient extent to effectsuperior economy over theanhydrous-ammonia machines.

The main cause of inefficiency appears to lie in the fact that no meansare provided for ascertaining positively whether the correct pressuresare maintained in the gas-exhaust and glycerin chambers relatively toeach other and the high-pressure end of the cylinder and that no meansfor automatically maintaining the required pressure in theglycerin-chamber are provided. As the glycerin is being constantlyconsumed, the pressure of same unless maintained automatically mustundergo constant reduction, and when less than the pressure in theexhaust-gas chamber the escape of gas follows. 1

Another detrimental v feature generally found in machines of this classis thata checkvalve is interposed between the gas-exhaust chamber of thestuffing-box and the suction end of the cylinder, such valve havingdifferential areas, so that the pressure in the exhaust .chamber mustreach a point sufliciently greater than the suction pressure to overcomethe load exerted by the latter on the larger valve area when such valveopens automatically and relieves the pressure. Such valve cannot,however, be relied upon, as it is necessarily very delicate andsusceptible to any influence which ordinarily affects valves, and owingto its necessarily isolated position it cannot be determined whethersuch valve operates at all.

Between the outermost packing-ring and innermost ring 7 is left anannular space 15, connected by ducts 16 with an annular chamber 17,formed in the ring 6. Said annular chamber 17 is connected, by means ofa duct 18 and pipe 19, with one end of a cylinder 20, hereinafterdescribed. A similar annular space 21 is formed between thepacking-rings 7, and this is similarly connected with an annular chamber22, connected with the other end of said cylinder 20 and with aglycerintank 23, a valve 24 being interposed in the pipe effecting thelast-named connection. Said tank 23 is connected with the suction end ofa glycerin-pump 25, the delivery end of said pump being connected withthe lastnamed end of said cylinder 20. Said cylinder 20 is dividedlongitudinally into two differential chambers 26 and 27, separated bythe differential piston 28, the smaller chamber 26 of said cylinderforming the gas-chamber and the larger forming the glycerinchamber 27.Said piston 28 also acts as a valve to control a gas-exhaust port 29,leading to a valve-cham ber 30, connected with the cylinder 1, saidvalve-chamber 30 containing a suction-valve 31, actuated byfluid-pressure in one direction and by a spring in the other direction.

The pump 25 may be either ahand or power pump; but for the present Iwill presume that it is a continuously-working power-pump arranged tomaintain a constant pressure in the chambers 27 and 21 and maintain aconstant circulation of the glycerin. The maintenance of constantpressure is readily effected by-setting the valve 24 so as to providesufficient resistance to the fiow of glycerin. The-cylinder of said pump25 also has a return connection 32 with said tank 23, which iscontrolled by a spring-actuated valve 33, which acts as a safety-valveto relieve excess pressure.

We will assume that the highest pressure developed in the cylinder 1 isseventy atmospheres and the glycerin-pressure maintained is thirty sevenatmospheres. The valve 33 would be set to open when theglycerin-pressure exceeds thirty-seven atmos pheres. The pressureexerted on the larger face of the piston 28 would equalize a pres sureof sixty-five atmospheres on the smaller end of said piston 28. Hencewhen the pressure of the escaping gas in the stuffing-box chamber 17exceeds sixty-five atmospheres the piston 28 will be moved to uncoverthe exhaust-port 29 and permit the gas to return into the cylinder 1. inan obvious manner.

A check-valve 34 is interposed in the pipe connecting the delivery endof the pump 25 with said cylinder 20 to prevent reflux of glycerin, andin order to permit the piston 28 to move to uncover the port 29 Iprovide a return connection from the pipe connecting the cylinder 20with the annular chamber 22, a pop-valve 35 being interposed in saidconnection, which may be adjusted to open when the glycerin-pressu reexceeds thirty-seven atmospheres. As soon as said glycerin-pressureexceeds thirty-seven atmospheres the valve will be opened and theglycerin pumped will return directly into the tank 23 until such excesspressure is again relieved by escape of gas from the chamber 26 intocylinder 1. A branch pipe extends from any convenient point in theglycerin system to a pressuregage 36, and a similar pipe connects saidchamber 26 of cylinder 20 with said pressure gage, each of saidconnections being controlled by valves 37 and 38, respectively. By thismeans the glycerin-pressure can be ascertained when desired by openingvalve 37 and closing valve 38, and by reversing such operation thepressure in chamber 26 can be read.

The piston 28. is provided with a piston-rod 39, which projects from thecylinder 20, whereby it can readily be determined whether the systemoperates properly and what the degree of leakage is.

I claim as my invention 1. In a refrigerating or ice machine, thecombination with the compressor cylinder and a stuffing-box at one endof same, of a gas-chamber in said stuffing-box, a glycerinchamber insame, a glycerin-tank, a pipe connecting same with saidglycerin-chamber, a pump connected with said tank at its suction end, acylinder having differential chambers, a differential piston therein,connection between one of said chambers and said pump, and with saidglycerin-chamber, connection between the other chamber of said cylinderwith said gas-chamber, connection between said cylinder and thecompressor-cylinder, said differential piston controlling said lastnamedconnection, connection between said glycerin -chamber of said cylinderand said glycerin-tank, and a pop-valve interposed in said connection,whereby when the gas-pressure in said gas-chamber exceeds a given point,said pop-valve will open and return the glycerin to said tank until saiddifferential piston has moved to establish connection between said gaschamber and the compressor-cylinder to return escaped gas to the latter.

2. In a machine of the kind specified, the combination with thecompressor-cylinder, the stuffing-box, an escape-gas chamber, aglycerin-chamber, a glycerin pump and tank adapted to. maintain a givenpressure in the glycerin-chamber and a constant circulation of same, andconnection between said escapegas chamber and the compressor-cylinderother than through said stuffin g-box, of a cylinderhaving differentialchambers interposed in said glycerin system and in said last-named gasconnection and having a differential piston controlling the latter, saidpiston being actuated by variations in pressure in the escape-gaschamber against the action of the glycerin-pressure to'establishconnection between said escape-gas chamber and said compressor-cylinder,and a pop-valve connection between said glycerin-chamber and said tankfor returning glycerin displaced by the movement of said piston intosaid tank.

1 0 controlled by said glycerin-pressure and interposed in saidconnection between said escapegas chamber and said valve-chamber forcontrolling said connection.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JUSTUS O. GOOSMANN.

Witnesses:

RUDOLPH WM. LOTZ, JOHN SNOWHOOK.

